The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite Index were Poly Real Estate Group Co up 7.61 percent, followed by Shanghai Fosun
Pharmaceutical Group Co gaining 7.12 percent and China Jushi Co up 7.03 percent.

About 14.21 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 88.1 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 16.13 billion shares a
day. The volume in the previous trading session was 13.77 billion.

Major resources shares rose, as investors bet the industry would benefit from further supply-side reforms that would give incumbents bigger pricing
power.

Healthcare and consumer stocks also gained on optimism they would benefit from China's transition toward quality growth.

The Chinese government will push forward with structural supply-side reforms and maintain neutral monetary policy in 2018 as it looks to improve the
quality of growth, the Xinhua News Agency said on Wednesday, citing top leaders at a key economic planning meeting.

(Agencies)

" "

by Hummam Sheikh Ali

DAMASCUS, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The major achievement for Syria in 2017 was perhaps the defeat of the Islamic State (IS), a development that nourishes
hopes and paves the way for a possible political solution to the nearly seven-year-old civil war in 2018, after several setbacks in the course of
negotiations.

FALL OF IS

On Oct. 17 Mats Hummels World Cup Jersey , the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), backed by the U.S., fully captured the northern city of Raqqa,
almost three years after the terrorist group declared the city as the capital of its self-styled caliphate in Syria.

It took the SDF four months to defeat the IS in Raqqa, with the heavy backing of the U.S.-led anti-terror coalition.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group, 3 Mario Gotze World Cup Jersey ,250 people, including 1,130 civilians, were killed during the four-month intense battles in Raqqa.

The London-based watchdog also said 80 percent of Raqqa was destroyed owing to the heavy bombing by both the SDF and the U.S.-led coalition.

In tandem with the SDF's attacks on Raqqa, the Russian-backed Syrian army was making strides in the battles against IS militants in the eastern
province of Deir al-Zour, which boasts key oil and gas fields and was thus deemed as the economic capital of the IS.

On Nov. 3 Mario Gomez World Cup Jersey , the Syrian army declared the liberation of the entire city of Deir al-Zour from the IS, after months of battles in
the capital city that bears the same name with the province.

The army later defeated the IS in two key strongholds in the countryside of Deir al-Zour Province, namely the cities of al-Mayadeen and al-Bukamal
along the Iraqi border.

To reach Deir al-Zour, the Syrian government forces with the backing of pro-government fighters, and the Lebanese group of Hezbollah launched a
wide-scale military offensive in the Syrian Desert in the remote eastern countryside of Homs Province in central Syria.

The campaign started in May and initially focused on eliminating rebel threats along the highway from the capital Damascus to the border with Iraq.

Its first goal was to capture both the highway and the al-Tanf border crossing, thus securing the Damascus countryside from a potential rebel attack.

Later Marco Reus World Cup Jersey , multiple other fronts were opened throughout the desert, in addition to the anti-IS operation ""Grand Dawn"" which
aimed to reopen the Damascus-Palmyra highway and prepare for an offensive toward Deir al-Zour.

Along the way in the desert toward Deir al-Zour, the army recaptured Palmyra and other key IS strongholds.

During the offensive in the desert, key gas and oil plants, including the Hayyan gas fields, the largest production facility of gas feeding
electricity stations in central and southern Syria Marc-Andre ter Stegen World Cup Jersey , were recaptured from the IS.

The series of operations stripped the IS of its political and economic strongholds, so that the eradication of its remnants in the countryside of Deir
al-Zour is just a matter of time.

TENSION BETWEEN GOV'T AND KURDS

In the meantime, the Kurdish-led SDF was also attacking the IS in the northern countryside of Deir al-Zour, yet with different aims.

The Syrian army's aim was to get all the areas captured by the IS back to the government control, while the U.S.-backed SDF was to consolidate its
presence to realize its old dream of establishing an autonomy in Syria.

There was no military or political confrontation between them at first.

The Kurdish-led groups, however Manuel Neuer World Cup Jersey , repeatedly accused the government forces of targeting their areas, while the Syrian government refused to
acknowledge the liberation of Raqqa, saying the city was occupied by the U.S. and Kurdish forces.

Syrian officials repeatedly said the government will regain all lost areas, including those under the Kurdish control, while Foreign Minister Walid
al-Moallem said Kurdish autonomy was not non-negotiable.

On Dec. 20, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad described the SDF as ""new Daesh (IS) Lukas Podolski World Cup Jersey ,"" saying the SDF should be a part of Syria.

The sharp comments came as the government perceives the Kurdish activities as separatist, despite the repeated remarks from the Kurds